Grail Pilgrim
"I am but a simple man. To serve this most holy quest is reward enough for me." Basic (KotG) Grail Pilgrims are peasants devoted to the Lady of the Lake, as represented by her Grail Knights. They believe that Grail Knights are paragons of courage, justice, and courtesy, and that the best way they, as lowly peasants, can serve the Lady is to serve a Grail Knight. To this end, they choose a Grail Knight and follow him around. If the knight drops anything (broken spoons, old buttons, and so on), they seize them and treasure them as relics, a means of contact with the holy. If the Grail Knight needs anything, they get it for him. And if the Grail Knight is in danger, they try to fight for him. Most Grail Pilgrims do not have long lives. If a Grail Knight dies whilst questing, his Grail Pilgrims descend on the body, stripping it of relics. Many then turn the corpse into a Grail Reliquae, which they then carry around in place of the Knight himself. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Charm, Common Knowledge (Bretonnia), Dodge Blow, Intimidate, Outdoor Survival, Perception Talents: Etiquette, Hardy or Very Resilient, Specialist Weapon Group (Two-handed), Stout-hearted or Strong-minded Trappings: Halberd, Light Armour (Leather Jack), Bits That Fell Off the Back of A Grail Knight Career Entries Carcassonne Shepherd, Hunter, Herrimault, Outlaw, Peasant, Tradesman, Vagabond Career Exits Battle Pilgrim, Carcassonne Shepherd, Mercenary, Herrimault, Vagabond Note: Women may only become Grail Pilgrims if they are pretending to be men, nobles may only do so if they are pretending to be peasants. A Day in the Life The grail pilgrim wakes in a makeshift camp alongside his fellows. After taking breakfast and breaking camp they follow the trail of the Grail Knight they seek, singing chansons about his exploits as they go. The Pilgrims stop regularly to take repast and swap anecdotes about the knight, seeking to outdo one another with tales of his deeds or boasting of a time when he supposedly spoke or gestured to them. The pilgrim will gather any of the Grail Knight’s discarded effects he comes across. He will equip himself with bits of armour, bent swords, and broken lances. If the knight should fall during his travels the pilgrims will make a grisly prize of the corpse, using it as the centrepiece of a sacred reliquary. Care of this reliquary is of paramount importance to the pilgrims and they bear it with great honour. The pilgrim must be ready to defend himself, for he follows the Grail Knight through wild areas of Bretonnia, where beastmen and greenskins wait to waylay travellers. Sometimes the inhabitants of a farmstead are unwilling to provide the pilgrim with the provisions he needs, and violence often ensues. Should he encounter the Grail Knight he follows the grail pilgrim will immediately make showy obeisance. Such encounters usually result in uncomfortable stand-offs, the Pilgrim too awed to speak and the Knight somewhat humiliated by the presence of a low-born devotee dressed in his cast-off gear. When the Knight sets off again there is palpable relief, and the Pilgrim waits a while in respectful reverie before following after his hero once more. Affiliations Grail pilgrims are looked on with a mixture of contempt and fear by the normal folk of Bretonnia. The peasantry of the kingdom all agree Grail Knights are awe-inspiring figures, and so understand how easy it might be to idolise them in this manner. On the other hand, Grail Pilgrims are notoriously zealous and dangerous, and have been known to raid villages and farmsteads when foraging for supplies. The Bretonnian nobility view them as pests in peacetime. Some dukes may see wandering bands of pilgrims on their lands imprisoned or killed. In times of war this attitude changes, for the fanatical pilgrim bands make doughty fighters and their presence on a battlefield is viewed as a boon.